On the Mend

The better part of the week was spent trying to recuperate Lila from her cold. Just when we would think she was doing better, she would spike a temp again and we would start all over again. I spent the day home with her on Wednesday, Mike and I divided the day on Thursday and then I was back home with her on Friday.

Saturday found Mike, my Dad, my brother, my uncle and two family friends headed to State College, PA to cheer on the Hawkeyes against Penn State.

True Fans!

It was cold and rainy, but the Hawkeyes made for an exciting 2nd half and won therefore making the whole trip worthwhile! While Mike was gone Lila and I had the chance to let her rest for another whole day, making sure that this cold goes away. I think it did the trick as today she seems a lot better, however...I have it now! Go figure!

We were both super excited to welcome Mike back home! It was the first night he was away from Lila and it was kind of hard for both of us. It was hard for him to be away and it was hard for me to sleep soundly without the protector of the family. The dogs woke me up 6 times, yes 6 times barking in the middle of the night...needless to say that didn't make me sleep any better!

We got through it! When Mike got home Lila didn't waste anytime snuggling into him and before we knew it she was sound asleep, safe and sound in her Daddy's arms!

Under the Weather

Lila has her first full blown cold. You would never know it in her attitude, still smiley and sweet, but you can see it in her little face when she looks at you that thing aren't quite right.

Not even a little cold can stop this smile!

She has a stuffy nose and was running a temperature this afternoon, so we decided to take her into the doctor, just to be safe. She has a little virus, her lungs are clear and no issue with her ears...thank goodness, I don't want to start ear infections this early, I have only heard horror stories about what that can bring! She did get weighed today and she is 14.13lbs. Getting bigger!

We snuggled most of the day, allowing her to get some quiet rest and ended the day in a nice warm bath to help loosen up the crud.

We call this eskimo baby!

Good night Lila, sleep tight...we hope you feel better tomorrow! We love you bug!

Quality Time

The week was a good one especially after the very busy weekend we had just had! I feel like it flew by in a hurry. My brother and sister-in-law were spending some time in Canada to see a U2 concert, so Mom had both of our nieces to watch over. We were able to spend some nice time with all of them...quality time! Mom headed back to Nashville for a majority of the fall and winter, she will be back here and there, but it won't be anything like the time she spent here over the past 5 months. I have grown accustom to her being home, being at my fingertips, seeing her every few days. It was hard to see her go...selfishly I would like her closer, but it will be okay, time flies and we will be together again soon.

Jason and Jen got home from Canada so we all gathered together on Saturday afternoon to watch the Hawkeye game. The Hawks seem to get a little better each time they take the field, lets hope that is the trend for the rest of the season. The girls were having a good time and Celia was even trying out some cheerleading moves!

Sunday found myself and two girlfriends on a road trip to Williamsburg, to the outlet mall. We all had a handful of reasons to get down there, so we decided to leave the children at home with the Daddy's and head for some much needed Mommy time! We had a lot of fun and got some really good deals. I have to admit up until I was pregnant I had been to the outlet maybe a dozen times in my whole life, now that Lila has entered the picture I truly cannot live without the Carter's store, everything is so reasonable and fits her perfectly that it is worth the drive.

We headed home in time for us to have some quality family time. Lila was super excited when she learned it was bath night! She is still loving her baths and has graduated from using her net in her tub, so she is really digging the splashing she can do with her feet!

If you look hard enough at the picture above you can tell that her hair is sticking up on the top of her head...Mike measured it the other night and it is at least 1 1/2 inches long on top! I can only imagine what we will be dealing with when she is a year old, not sure I am going to be able to bring myself to cut it. Just looking at her makes us both SMILE!

A Charmed Life!

This last weekend found us in a whirlwind of activities! A "circus", a birthday party, a football game, a classical concert and a Christening were on our Things to Do list!

Friday started with our friends Heidi & Troy stopping by to go over the new pictures of Lila that were taken the week before...they are truly amazing! She has changed so much since her newborn pictures, they really did a great job capturing her personality in the pictures. It was once again hard to pick since they were so good, but we managed to narrow it down to our favorite. Here are a few of our favorites:

After the picture viewing I quickly got ready to attend the Britney Spears concert in Des Moines...yes you heard right, Britney Spears. Even though she wouldn't be on my usual Top 10 list a friend from high school dances in her Circus tour, so a few of us girlfriends decided to make the trip to Des Moines to support her. We got to Des Moines in the late afternoon and made a stop at PF Chang's for dinner (I so badly wish we had one here) and then off to the concert. We were able to get tickets through a company I work with, they have a box at the Wells Fargo Arena, so we had great seats, not to mention nice amenities -- kind of like flying first class! The concert opened with two performers and then it was time for the main event.

We had a great time and it was wonderful to see Tiana! I told Mike when I got home that it is always so neat to see her, because she truly is following her dreams and there aren't many people who can honestly say they are doing that...it is truly inspirational!

Saturday brought the Iowa vs. Iowa State game. Mike headed to my Dad's to spend the afternoon with my brother and dad cheering on the Hawks! Thankfully the Hawkeyes pulled out a very nice win over the Cyclones and they had a much better game than the previous weekend. Hopefully the rest of our season continues to improve that way. While Mike was doing his male bonding, Lila, Monica and I headed to Springville to our friend's Brad and Amber's to help them celebrate their little boy Dylan's 3rd birthday. We had such a good time celebrating with him during his Hawkeye themed birthday party...even the cake was black and gold!

Saturday evening we headed to Brucemore to enjoy the Burana at Brucemore. The Cedar Rapids Symphony and the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale were performing the Carmina Burana on the lawn of Brucemore. My Mom had been asked to come back and sing with the chorale, it was a beautiful night, so we packed up some lawn chairs and a blanket and strapped Lila in the Baby Bjorn and off we went! We weren't allowed to take pictures of the performance, but I snuck one in of Lila relaxing on the blanket while listening to the beautiful music.

Sunday was a very special day for us as a family. We chose to hold Lila's Christening in my Dad's backyard at his pond. We knew that we wanted something intimate for our family and closest friends, so having the ceremony at the house was perfect. We decided that we wanted the same pastor that married us to perform the baptism and he was thrilled to be a part of it all. The day started out with the baptismal ceremony and then we had a beautiful brunch afterwards. The weather could not have been better for her special day!

We are so blessed to have such an amazing family, wonderful friends and a beautiful daughter. Lila looked stunning in her gown and continues fill our lives with joy and happiness that we didn't even know existed before she came into our lives.

A Little Hawkeye

This Labor Day weekend was definitely a weekend full of memories! Mike and I took Friday afternoon off in order to get Lila's pictures taken. We started out at our house and then we took her to Noelridge Park to do a few shots outside. We got a super cute knit beanie hat and booties for her to wear in some of the pictures. We can't wait to get the professional ones, because she looked darn cute with our everyday camera!

Simply Irresistible!

Friday night we welcomed our family friends, Jason and Jena and their son Sebastian to stay with us for the weekend. They traveled from Wisconsin to come to the Iowa game. So, Saturday we all gathered in the car and headed to the Iowa vs. UNI game in Iowa City. It was a big game, not only was it the Hawkeyes home opener, but it marked Lila's FIRST trip to Kinnick Stadium. Mike and I debated the whole week on whether or not we were going to take her and we decided, why not?! She is such a laid back little girl that we didn't see any reason not to, so we packed the diaper bag full of food and diapers and slipped Lila into her black and gold and off we went!

Let's Go Hawks!

Keeping up with a family tradition!

Here come the Hawkeyes!

So this is what football is all about?!

Ahhhh...halftime!

It was an amazing day! Lila did SO well it was almost unbelieveable. The weather was absolutely beautiful and to make Lila's first experience even better my Dad gave us his club seats to use so we were able to still sit outside with the shade of the overhang, but use the really nice indoor facility if we needed to. She even managed to catch a few zzzz's despite the extremely loud fans, including her Mom and Dad...yelling at the top of their lungs at the Hawks trying to squeak out that win against UNI...I say you truly aren't a Hawkeye fan unless you are experiencing heart failure on Saturday's!

The rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends! We are so happy that we ended up taking Lila to the game and can't wait to tell her about her first experience...she attended her first game when she was 20 weeks, amazing!